Still awaiting their first victory of the 2021-22 Eredivisie campaign, PEC Zwolle square up against PSV Eindhoven at the Philips Stadion on Saturday.
The home side, on the other hand, go in search of all three points in order to keep the pace up with Ajax at the top of the Eredivisie table.
Match preview
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In their last outing before the international break, PSV Eindhoven saw off the threat of Sparta Rotterdam in a 2-1 victory on October 3.
After a relatively uneventful first 80 minutes, the game burst into life in the final knockings as goals from Ibrahim Sangare and Ryan Thomas propelled Roger Schmidt's men to a two-goal lead, before Lennart Thy pulled one back for his side in the final minute of normal time.
Consequently, the Rood-witten have moved up into second place in the Eredivisie table and are just one point behind current leaders Ajax at the top of the pile.
Awaiting them next is a clash versus an opposing side who have lost 16 of the last 19 meetings between the sides stretching back to 2012.
Saturday's hosts take on French outfit Monaco in the Europa League five days later and will need to set the tone with a convincing performance this weekend.
PEC Zwolle suffered a seventh league defeat in eight matches this season as they were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Heerenveen two Sundays ago.
A Bram Van Polen own goal three minutes past the hour mark was enough to settle an otherwise nervy and cagey contest at the Mac3Park Stadion.
The Blauwvingers remain rooted to the bottom of the standings, five points adrift of safety just after the first eight rounds of matches.
Having found the back of the net just two times all-season long, Saturday's visitors will need to rediscover their cutting edge in front of goal if results are to improve.
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Team News
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Ritsu Doan, Mees Kreekels, Shurandy Sambo and Richard Ledezma are all ruled out with knee injuries and will not be involved this weekend.
The home side will also to have to make do with the absence of Fode Fofana who sustained an ankle injury while on duty with the Netherlands Under-21s.
After coming off the bench in the second half to good effect last time out, Ryan Thomas could be handed a spot in the starting lineup this time around.
Zwolle's Mees de Wit is unavailable due to a hand injury, while 25-year-old Pelle Clement is yet to fully recuperate from an ankle problem.
Sai Van Wermeskerken remains out of action for the away side since picking up a knee injury in February, and the Japanese defender continues his spell on the sidelines.
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Drommel; Max, Boscagli, Ramalho, Mwene; Sangare, Van Ginkel, Gotze; Gakpo, Zahavi, Bruma
PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Lamprou; Pabai, Van Polen, Kersten, Nakayama; Saymak, Strieder, Huiberts; Kastaneer, Tedic, Redan
We say: PSV Eindhoven 2-0 PEC Zwolle
The home side will be expected to exhibit their superiority over the away side and cruise to all three points. The visitors have struggled at both ends of the pitch this term, and we fancy PSV to heap more misery on them.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a PSV Eindhoven win with a probability of 73.52%. A draw had a probability of 16% and a win for PEC Zwolle had a probability of 10.49%.
The most likely scoreline for a PSV Eindhoven win was 2-0 with a probability of 11.17%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.31%) and 3-0 (9.27%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.48%), while for a PEC Zwolle win it was 1-2 (3.12%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 7.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that PSV Eindhoven would win this match.
